


Restrictions

by MegaWallflower



Category: Naruto
Genre: Chuunin Exams, Gen, POV Neji Hyuga, POV Second Person, Panicky Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 01:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20733824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaWallflower/pseuds/MegaWallflower
Summary: Neji would probably never get another chance to kill someone from the main branch. He didn’t care who it was, he just wanted the freedom that would come with feeling that rage and killing for it before they could kill him.





	Restrictions

For once in your life you felt in control.

For once in your life, it felt like things were in your hands, and you could finally wield the power that’d been yours to own all this time. Your father once told you that no one is more loved by the Hyuga’s abilities than you, especially not anyone in the main branch. For once in your life, you can prove it for real. You can prove your father was right all along.

For once in your life, you feel like you’ve done something right.

No, no.

_It’s not right._ You quickly reminded yourself. It’s sick and twisted and fucking malicious. You laughed bitterly at yourself for thinking something like that and you scorned yourself, because who cared if you were being _mean_? Hiashi wasn’t here to watch. Hinata wouldn’t activate the seal, even if she could. And honestly, what good was a mask that doesn’t come off? You couldn’t become the role you play. You can’t. You won’t. Not while there’s still your father’s blood in your veins.

You could pretend all you want for your bastard uncle, but that’s all it was. Right? Right. That’s not who you were or who you wanted to be.

Hizashi was dead to the world but Hinata’s heart was still beating.

This was the closest you would ever get to retribution.

You didn’t want her sympathy or that pitying look on her face, you wanted blood. An eye for an eye, a life for a life.

No sooner had you stepped forward than you found yourself restrained from all angles.

“Neji. Stand down. You gave me a passionate promise not to lose your head over this.”

Guy.

His voice was steady and sincere, as always, and his hold was unconventional, more like a hug than anything restrictive.

You had made that promise to Guy. You remembered. You had planned to honor it, before Hinata pissed you off.

Maybe you would have listened now if that was all this was, your own sensei holding you accountable for your own words and the consequences he knew would follow. Guy was soft-hearted to a fault, and even now, his pulse was calm. He wasn’t about to fight you. He was here to protect you, in his misguided way. You really couldn’t resent him.

But it wasn’t just Guy who had stepped in to stop you.

“Why do even the other jonin jump in…” you asked through gritted teeth.

Kakashi was here too, grabbing Neji’s arm –the hold wasn’t painful, but it was tight on the already sore muscles. Did Kakashi intend to break it? Was he willing to break you for stepping out of line as readily as Hiashi would?

No. He wouldn’t, not in front of Guy. Guy honestly wouldn’t let him. He probably came just to accompany Guy. You weren’t especially close or trusting of Kakashi, but Kakashi was with Guy. He was less of a threat than the others. Following Guy here like a lost little dog, acting high and mighty and lazy.

And Hayate. What was Hayate doing, pointing at your headband like that, pointing at your scar of a seal? Did he know about it? He’d had no reaction to a man getting his spine snapped or his arms forcibly severed, so why was he stopping you? You narrowed your eyes, and he didn’t even flinch, even though he looked so sickly and a frail that wind could blow him over.

Why was he making that handseal, why was he pointing at your forehead, what kind of fool stands right in front of a Hyuga like that, what did he know? Beads of sweat ran down your face. Fighting that hopeless little heiress hadn’t even made your pant, but now, you were nervous, and it was all sinking it. They were willing to hurt you, too. They were probably willing to kill you, too.

And this woman. Her grip on your other arm was tighter, more desperate than Kakashi’s, like this jonin actually was panicked. She would break your arm or try to do worse to you if you gave her the chance. Hinata always had someone waiting in her corner, even when the family itself didn’t want anything to do with her. Hinata always had someone.

“Oh. I get it. More special treatment for the main family…” You scoffed bitterly, and you barely resisted the urge to start a real fight, to test yourself against these so-called jonin who were so desperate to wag their tails for the main branch.

“Neji. I won’t let them hurt you. Stand down, please.” Guy’s voice calmed you down, somewhat, and you could feel Kakashi’s grip on your arm loosen in response.

Fine.

It didn’t matter.

This fight was won.


End file.
